If you care about the future of life on Earth, there’s some Big News you should know.

GLOBAL CO2 CONCENTRATIONS JUST PASSED 400 PARTS PER MILLION.

This March, global levels of CO2 passed 400 parts per million.

Although short-term local measurements of 400 ppm have been recorded previously, this marks the first time since record keeping began that CO2 levels were above 400 ppm globally for a month.

Already we’re seeing the deadly effects of climate change in the form of rising seas, monster storms, wildfires, and extreme weather of all kinds. Passing 400 ppm is an ominous sign of what might come next — and it sends a clear signal that the world must act ahead of the UN climate talks in Paris this December.

The safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is 350 parts per million.

The only way to get there is to immediately transition the global economy away from fossil fuels and into into renewable energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable farming practices.

The last time CO2 levels were this high, humans did not exist. Our dependence on fossil fuels is fundamentally changing the nature of the planet — and it’s time to act.

What This Means

Dr. James Hansen

Former NASA Climatologist

“If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced … to at most 350 ppm.”

Payal Parekh

Global Managing Director, 350.org

Global Managing Director, 350.org Crossing the 400 ppm threshold is a somber reminder that we haven’t taken the action we need. Nevertheless there is good reason for hope — activists all across the globe are fighting the fossil fuel industry and demanding clean, just and affordable solutions to our energy needs.

Ferrial Adam

Africa – Arab World Team Leader, 350.org

“Reaching 400 ppm means that we have to intensify our campaign to stop financing fossil fuels. Building the climate justice movement in Africa is now about fighting for our survival and basic rights. True development must centre around renewable energy.”

Bill McKibben

Co-Founder, 350.org

“We’re in new territory for human beings–it’s been millions of years since there’s been this much carbon in the atmosphere. The only question now is whether the relentless rise in carbon can be matched by a relentless rise in the activism necessary to stop it.”

Nicole Oliveira

Latin America Team Leader, 350.org

“Passing 400 ppm could have serious impacts for tropical biodiversity and food security in Brazil and Latin American countries. Together we are working to keep gas and oil in the ground.”

Deirdre Smith

Divestment Strategic Partnerships Coordinator, 350.org

“If we expect to handle the rising carbon levels in the sky, we will have to start contending with the power on the ground.”

Global CO2 concentrations surpass 400 ppm for first time

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

350 PARTS PER MILLION = SAFE LEVEL OF CARBON IN THE ATMOSPHERE

And the namesake for the 350 movement. This explains what’s it’s all about:

WHAT WE’RE DOING

We’ve got work to do, and there’s not a moment to lose.

400+ communities everywhere

Divest from fossil fuels

A movement to divest schools, religious institutions and governments from fossil fuels — from the Gates Foundation, to Norway, to the Vatican, to your local church

The fossil fuel industry is planning to burn 5 times more carbon than the planet can afford — and we’re financing it. That’s why people everywhere are organizing to demand their communities divest from destruction by taking their money out of fossil fuels. If it’s wrong to wreck the planet, it’s wrong to profit from that wreckage. gofossilfree.org

USA and Canada

Stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline

Telling President Barack Obama to keep his promises and stop the pipeline

The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would transport 800,000 barrels a day of the world’s dirtiest oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast — we’re joining with people across the US and Canada to let the President know he needs to live up to his lofty climate rhetoric and stop the pipeline. 350.org/KXL

Australia

Keep Galilee Basin Coal in the Ground

Fighting one of the world’s biggest carbon bombs

Stopping the Galilee Coal mines of central Queensland is one of the most important fossil fuel fights on the planet. If the Galilee Basin was a country it would be the seventh largest source of carbon emissions — it’s a veritable ticking carbon bomb. 350.org.au/campaigns/galilee-coal

Pacific rim countries

Stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership

Stopping the secret trade deal and corporate power grab

The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement — a trade deal being negotiated between dozens of countries — is the fossil fuel industry’s latest tool to shut down climate action, and we’re joining a huge coalition to stop it. The TPP would give foreign fossil fuel corporations the right to sue city, state and national governments if climate action hurts their profits. It’s an enormous corporate power grab and it threatens to undermine climate progress around the world. 350.org/tpp

Around the world

Global Power Shift

Youth-led convergences for climate action

Global Power Shift is the starting point for a new phase in the international climate movement. First, hundreds of climate leaders from around the world gathered in Istanbul to launch a year of new strategy and action for the movement. Now, we’re fanning out across the globe to spark an unprecedented wave of events and mobilizations for climate action. globalpowershift.org